SMU Professor of Marketing and Centre for Marketing Excellence Director Srinivas Reddy commented on the fears of brand dilution that have kept luxury manufacturers away from tapping the second-hand market. He said: “I think there is always a risk if the same store sells both genuine first-hand stuff and also the pre-owned stuff. There is always a fear that there could be dilution. But I was thinking about an analogy in the used-car market: if you think in terms of very high-end cars – Mercedes, Porsche and BMW – the same dealership that sells the regular cars also sells the pre-owned stuff. For them, they did not see any dilution in the brand. The manufacturers don't want fake stuff to be sold, but they also want to control some of the value that is being generated through this second-hand market. And so what that means is that they have to rethink their business model in terms of how they sell, and how they provide trusted channels where they can extract some of the value that is there in the luxury segment."